“I was a first-year player trying to find my way,” Dawson recalled of the ’99 game. “I don’t remember much.”

Quarterback Tim Couch picked a fight with a Rams linebacker.

“I don’t remember that,” said Dawson, who was fighting for his life, never sure when Head Coach Chris Palmer might replace him.

“He rode me that whole year just because I was the rookie kicker. There weren’t many positive memories from that year.”

One was Dawson’s 47-yard field goal at St. Louis. He’s only kicked six longer since.

The 47-yarder was all the Browns got in a 34-3 loss to the Rams, who were headed to a Super Bowl. The loss dropped the Browns to 0-7 on their way to 2-14.

“You go 2-14, and you try to forget most of what happened,” said Dawson, who has lived to become the Browns No. 4 all-time scorer, trailing Lou Groza, Don Cockroft and Jim Brown. Dawson has 716 points and likely will pass Brown (756) in December.

The Rams moved in 1995 into what was then called the Trans World Dome. It’s the Edward Jones Dome now.

“My clearer memory of the place was playing for Texas in the first Big 12 championship game,” Dawson said. “We beat Nebraska. I think I had three (field goals). Their kicker was Kris Brown ... two guys who ended up hanging around in the league a while.”

Brown, an ex-Steeler, will kick for Houston when the Texans play at Cleveland on Nov. 25. Dawson’s opposite number today is Jeff Wilkins, a name that resonates in Stark County. Wilkins, 35, was the Fitch High School kicker whose 43-yard field goal handed Lee Owens his first loss as Massillon’s head coach.

Wilkins’ NFL career path was exactly like Dawson’s but began in 1994. Both were undrafted. Neither stuck with his original team. Both have stuck with their current teams since the late 1990s.

Since turning 31, Wilkins has made 12 of his 20 career field goals of 50 yards or more. Dawson envies Wilkins’ dome kicking environment. Today, he says, is one of those days he’d tell his coaches to let him let one fly from 55 yards, maybe longer.

Whereas Dawson was stuck on an 0-7 team in 1999, Wilkins kicks for one now.

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